Gabriel Mateo

Gabriel Mateo A. Q., 50, is married living with his wife and children in Chillanes canton, Bolívar province. He has four children.

The members of the LUZ Y PROGRESO (Light & Progress) communal bank are located 20 minutes from the Chillanes Office. It is part of Chillanes canton and the bank is dedicated to farming and other professional jobs. It has 17 members.

Gabriel is a maize, broad bean, pea and chayote farmer; he also raises chickens. He buys his supplies in Chillanes and sells his products in the Chillanes market and in his settlement.

He is asking for a loan to buy maize, broad bean, pea and chayote seed. Support from the loan will help him economically to meet his needs. They face challenges like illnesses, infestations and weather changes. His dream is to have more land to continue farming.

Additional Information

About Cooperativa San Jose

This loan is administered by Cooperativa San Jose, a 45,000-member credit union located high in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador’s poorest province, Bolivar. They offer a unique loan called “Ventanillas Rurales” [Window to the Countryside], which uses a group guarantee but is an individual loan with a savings component, mostly to rural borrowers. Due to low savings rates and a history of macroeconomic instability, many traditional loans in Ecuador demand interest rates that are prohibitively high for some borrowers. There is also a high incidence of extortionist black-market lending in Ecuador. CSJ helps mitigate these problems by providing a less onerous and more appropriate option. Join CSJ’s Lending Team!